8.Semantical and structural typology of the adjectives.

Adjectives are words that describe or modify another person or thing in the sentence. The Articles — a, an, and the — are adjectives. (the tall professor; a six-year-old child).

Adjectives are the third major class of words in English, after nouns and verbs. Adjectives are words expressing properties of objects e.g. large, blue, simple, clever, economic, progressive, productive, etc and, hence, qualifying nouns. Adjectives in English do not change for number or case. The only grammatical category they have is the degrees of comparison.

In the sentence the adjective performs the functions of an attribute and a predicative. Of the two, the more specific function of the adjective is that of an attribute, since the function of a predicative can be performed by the noun as well. 

They are also characterized by functions in the sentence. Degrees of Comparison. There are three degrees of comparison positive, comparative and superlative. The positive form is the plain stem of an adjective e.g. heavy, slow, straight, etc . The comparative states that one thing has more of the quality named by the adjective than some other thing e.g. Henry is taller than John. The superlative states that the thing has the greatest degree of the quality among the things being considered e.g. Henry is the tallest boy in the class Most one-syllable adjectives, and most two-syllable adjectives ending in -y, -ow,-er, or consonant -le, with loud stress on the first syllable and weak stress on the second, form their comparative and superlative by the addition of the suffixes -er and -est. Positive Comparative Superlative clever- cleverer- cleverest; narrow- narrower- narrowest;

All the adjectives are traditionally divided into two large subclasses: qualitative and relative.

Relative adjectives express such properties of a substance as are determined by the direct relation of the substance to some other substance.

E.g.: wood -- a wooden hut; mathematics -- mathematical precision; history a historical event;

Cf: a wooden hut -- a hut made of wood; a historical event -- an event referring to a certain period of history; etc.

Qualitative adjectives, as different from relative ones, denote various qualities of substances which admit of a quantitative estimation, i.e. of establishing their correlative quantitative measure. The measure of a quality can be estimated as high or low, adequate or inadequate, sufficient or insufficient, optimal or excessive. Cf.: an awkward situation -- a very awkward situation; a difficult task -- too difficult a task; an enthusiastic reception -- rather an enthusiastic reception; a hearty welcome -- not a very hearty welcome; etc.

In this connection, the ability of an adjective to form degrees of comparison is usually taken as a formal sign of its qualitative character, in opposition to a relative adjective which is understood as incapable of forming degrees of comparison by definition. Cf: a pretty girl ?a prettier girl; a quick look -- a quicker look; a hearty welcome the heartiest of welcomes; a bombastic speech ? the most bombastic speech.

The adjectivids fall into two main grammatical subgroups, namely, the subgroup pluralia tantum {the English. the rich, the unemployed, the uninitiated. etc.), and the subgroup singularia tantum (the invisible, the abstract, the tangible, etc.). Semantically, the words of the first subgroup express sets of people (personal multitudes), while the words of the second group express abstract ideas of various types and connotations.